Rev 11:1-13
"Church Militant and Triumphant"
A great way to understand the book of Revelation is to think of a stage with many cameras around the stage shooting from different places. The Book of Revelation is a series of camera angles all filming the same reality. All the cameras are on Christ in heaven and the world under His feet as He rules it.
The kingdom of Christ began when He ascended his throne after His resurrection. Christ began to move all history to its conclusion. His kingdom will extend until He judges His enemies and brings His people to the new heavens and earth. The Book of Revelation pictures the whole church age up and through that end. It does so by giving us different camera angles of Christ's kingly ministry.
In chapter 1 the camera focuses in on Christ Himself - we are given a vision of how He looks, at least symbolically. In chapters 2&3 the camera comes to earth and narrows in on Christ's redemptive kingdom, the church. By His Spirit He is present on earth with His church - He is actively encouraging, rebuking, and pruning His church; even separating false branches from the true branches.
In chapters 4&5 the camera shifts back to heaven, and there we see Christ enter His kingship and open the scrolls of the age - He begins to execute His plan for the salvation of His people.
With the seals of chapters 6 the camera turns back to earth and narrows in on believers in the church age; specifically focusing in on their trials and tribulations.
The trumpets of chapter 8 & 9 shifted the camera angle to unbelievers in the church age. What will Christ be doing in reference to the unrepentant before His return?
All the camera angles cover the full ministry of Christ from his death and resurrection to His return. Each angle gives us a slightly different picture into Christ's work.
Rev 11:1-13 continues the interlude between the sixth and seventh seals. In chapter 10 the church is reminded that as she remains faithful to the gospel she will experience bitterness. Chapter 11 continues that theme.
Christ is speaking to John, and John is given a reed to measure with. He is instructed in v. 1 to measure the temple, or sanctuary of God, the altar and those who worship there. In the OT, when a prophet measured it symbolized God's protection. All those on earth who worship God in His heavenly temple are protected; they cannot be separated from Christ. That's the point of v. 1.
Now we have seen in the book that Christ's church goes through two stages. In church history these stages have been defined as the church militant and the church triumphant. Now we are the church militant, for we are in a battle - we struggle because of our sin, we still experience the enemy of sickness and death - and the devil still seeks to draw us away from Christ.
In heaven we will be the church triumphant. We will have overcome all these things.
But we have seen that there is an overlap between these two stages. Revelation 1 said that we reign with Christ now. We are already called citizens of heaven. That is why theologians have rightly said that the kingdom of Christ has an already stage and a not yet stage. We enjoy some benefits of the church triumphant even now. We are more than conquerors now. In some ways we overcome sin and temptation now, just not completely.
Notice in v. 2 that the outer court of the temple is not measured. The holy city, which is Christ's church, will also be trampled down by unbelievers - here represented by the name Gentiles. The portion of the temple being measured is the "already" of the kingdom - those things secure in Christ; the blessings of the church triumphant that are already ours; the eternal security true believers have in Christ.
The outer court that is not protected represents the church militant; or the "not yet" of the kingdom. The outer court was still legitimate place of worship. John is not casting anyone out of God's presence. But these for a time will not be protected in a physical sense or emotional sense - believers will experience suffering, persecution and death.
How long will God's people continue as the church militant? Forty two-months, or three and a half years. This number is taken from the book of Daniel. Daniel received a vision of the Messiah's kingdom, and it said God's people would suffer persecution for this long. The number of course is not literal but figurative. It reminds us of Elijah's ministry of judgment that lasted 3 and a half years; that was how long the drought lasted. By the way, Jesus' ministry was 3 and a half years also.
This number, though stated in different ways throughout the book, represents the wilderness period for the New Covenant church. Sometimes the number will be given as forty-two months, sometimes one thousand two hundred and sixty days. They all equal of course three and a half years, and they all are figurative.
In vv. 3-6 we see that the church has been given heavenly authority, even during this age. The two witnesses represent the church as a whole. The same authority is given to all the saints in other portions of the book. The lampstands of course remind us of chapter 1, where the church is pictured as a lampstand. The olive tree and the lampstand are taken from our text in Zechariah.
In Zechariah the Jews had returned from exile to rebuild the temple. Their enemies sought to discourage them from building, and even threatened to kill them and tear down the construction. God gave Zechariah a vision that His lampstand and olive tree would stand. The Spirit would enable them to rebuild the temple, and the plans of God's enemies would be frustrated.
In the Zechariah vision the olive trees represented the Holy Spirit, for the olive gave the oil to light the lampstand. So these two witnesses represent the church empowered by the Spirit to proclaim the gospel. The two witnesses also remind us that every fact is confirmed by at least two witnesses. The church is God's legal witness on the earth.
There is a double fulfillment to the Zechariah prophecy. It was fulfilled at one level when the physical temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt. But at the eternal level it is fulfilled in the NT temple, the church. The gates of hell will not overcome the church.
In this text the whole church is considered a prophet. In the OT a prophet entered the presence of the Lord. Now we all through faith in Christ enter the presence of the Lord. It is the church together that holds out the gospel to the world.
In v. 5 the church militant is given power to breathe out fire on their enemies. Remember that we are dealing with symbolic language. We must understand this in a spiritual manner. Do not think that we can call out droughts and death on our enemies.
The church calls out for all to repent and believe, or they will perish. Those who remain in their sins do not like this message. They wish the church would go away. Many actively seek to hurt the church so that message would go away.
Again when Scripture says the church it does not only mean the clergy. We all work together to make the church. We preach this gospel. We send it out to foreign lands. As one body we stand for Christ. This is how to think of the organized church Biblically. It is all of us.
The church actually confirms judgment on unbelievers. As unbelievers reject the message of the church throughout the world, God uses us to further their spiritual judgment. We are God's lawyers; our word of accusation actually confirms their fate. Even now our message plagues their consciences.
As Moses had the authority to bring judgment on Egypt; and Elijah the authority to call out the rain to stop, so the church has prophetic authority to bring salvation and judgment. Never underestimate what we do as a body. The church may look weak, but see it with eyes of faith, see it through the lens of Scripture.
From v. 7 on the camera lens moves us toward the end of history, narrowing in on the days immediately preceding the return of Christ. V. 7 is the introduction of this entity called the beast. We will spend more time on this in the upcoming chapters, but the term "beast" comes out of Daniel. There the beast symbolized the king and kingdom that would persecute the saints immediately preceding final judgment.
Jesus taught that just before the Lord returns things would look grim for the church. They would be so persecuted, and so many would fall away, that the Lord questions if He will even find faith on the earth.
Now v. 7 is hyperbole. It doesn't mean that in those days every single Christian will be literally killed. It means there will come a time when the world will get so sick of hearing our message that they will seek to stamp out the true church. And by the time they are finished it will seem that they succeeded. It will seem that the Church is dead. That is why v. 8 describes the church as a dead body lying in the street.
So there will be a time preceding the Lord's return when the church will become very small. From the world's perspective we will be out of their hair completely.
Now this does not mean that things must get from bad to worse until then. History is very cyclical, and nations run in cycles. For ages Germany was a land of darkness. In the 1500s Germany was the birth of the reformation. Three hundred years later the church was suffering under Nazi Germany. History is usually cyclical.
Of course there are some nations today that already fit this description of v. 7. In the communist nation of Albania during the cold war there was not one recorded church there. It seemed as if the enemies of the church had overcome her. Before Christ returns that will happen on a worldwide scale. But even then there will be a church, for Christ promised it.
V. 8 uses three cities throughout redemptive history to describe the world in those days. First it is called Sodom, referring to the immorality of the world. It is also called Egypt, referring to the persecution of God's people, and is also called Jerusalem, described here as the place where the Lord was crucified. This refers to the place of spiritual apostasy, because the majority of the visible church will have turned away from the gospel, just like Jerusalem did in the time of Christ.
In those days (v. 9) the peoples of the world will rejoice, because they do not have to hear the church's message any longer. That last part of v. 9 emphasizes how they feel about Christians. In the OT it was the ultimate indignity not to give a corpse a burial, but to leave it for the dogs.
But that is not the end of the story. The world never saw the measuring line from v. 1. God had made His people a permanent member of His sanctuary, so at the end of the age He will resurrect His people. V. 11 and 12 picture the resurrection of the saints. God brings them to life after 3& 1/2 days. This is in contrast to the 3&1/2 years of before. In other words, the time of their apparent defeat will be very brief.
When the world sees that the people they had ignored and persecuted have been raised, they will greatly fear the Lord. This is not fear in the sense of becoming Christians -this is fear as in dread, terror.
The world thought that the church in her militant state seemed weak and foolish - they ignored her when she testified that God was their God because of Christ.
Now the true church is raised in power, and the world cowers in fear. The believers are called to come up to heaven, and they ascend up on a cloud.
Do not use the events of a vision to come up with an exact chronology of future events. Instead catch the big picture. At that point in the vision God brings judgment on the world. In v. 13 judgment begins as we have seen before, with an earthquake. As many die, others gave glory to the Lord.
There is no second chance theology in Revelation. They give glory in the sense of unbelievers admitting that Jesus is Lord. In Phil. 2 it says that every man will bow before Jesus and proclaim Him Lord; that includes unbelievers also. Believers do so now willingly because they have trusted in Him for salvation, unbelievers will bow unwillingly because they will have no choice.
Now I hope as we have made our way through this passage, the fate of the church militant seemed awfully familiar to you. Let me summarize it again and you listen for a familiar pattern.
The church will speak to the world with authority, and the majority of the world will reject her message. Not only will they reject it, but it will gnaw at their consciences so much they will want her destroyed. Even so the church will save many with her message. But eventually the world will overcome her, and she will seem dead. But three days later she will rise again and ascend to heaven on a cloud.
Of course you see it. The church follows the Lord. See how closely we identify with our Savior? Christ spoke with authority and gathered His people to Himself. The Church speaks with authority and gathers people to Christ. Christ was rejected and suffered, so shall the church be rejected and suffer.
Many who followed Christ for three years fell away when the trials became severe. Many in the church will fall away as their trials become severe. Christ was placed on a cross, his children scattered, and it seemed as if the enemy had won. The church will be almost stamped out, most will abandoned her, and it will seem the enemy had won.
Christ rose from the dead, fully vindicated as God's Son. Believers will be resurrected from the dead, and the entire world will see that God is our God. That's why Paul wrote to consider it an honor to suffer for Christ. In this way we most identify with our Lord. Remember Biblical suffering is simply taking up our cross daily and serving Him, whatever that may be.
Now even though the Scripture teaches that before the Lord returns most will fall away, that does not mean we can somehow read the tealeaves and declare that these are the days, or declare the church is almost dead. God will always have a church on earth.
It is common to hear lament that the church is almost dead, and that there is only a small remnant left. If not careful we can develop a cult mentality thinking this way. All cults begin with this king of talk.
The reality is that the church always has a portion of it apostatizing. That was true in the beginning. Five of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were in bad shape, and two of the seven were at the point where Christ was taking His lampstand from them. That has not changed through the ages, as much as we'd like to think of a time of a golden age.
Consider this excerpt from a sermon by the Rev W. Cooper.
What a dead and barren time has it now been, for a great while, with all the churches of the Reformation. The golden showers have been restrained; the influences of the Spirit suspended; and the consequence has been, that the gospel has not had any eminent success. Conversions have been rare and dubious; few sons and daughters have been born to God...That this has been the sad state of religion among us in this land for many years will be acknowledged by all who have spiritual senses exercised, as it has been lamented by faithful ministers and serious Christians.
While you might expect that to have been written today, it was actually written about 1720 in the Massachusetts area. And that was a common theme among the preachers in those days.
This is exactly what Jesus told us would happen. We must not become arrogant in thinking our times are unique or special. The Church Militant will always look weak. It will be filled with true and false believers.
And the true believers are in the process of growth - they still battle sin and the weakness of the flesh. The preaching will seem weak - it will not normally spark revivals of thousands of conversions.
But those same criticisms of the church have been heard before. They were the same criticisms leveled at Christ. He was weak -he could not change the system, He seemed to lose followers faster than he gained them. And He even failed to the point of suffering shamefully on a cross.
But you cannot think that way. His weakness was our victory. Christ spoke with God's authority - when the people rejected Christ - God confirmed them in judgment. The church speaks with the same authority - when the world ignores our message, they spurn the king.
When we are weak, God continues to advance His kingdom among us. And when we are killed, or when we die in quietness, God will raise us again to show His enemies His mighty power and his glorious salvation.
As the church Militant, we are weary pilgrims. The Christian life is hard, even in America. It is hard to fight against sin - It is hard to continue in daily faithfulness when the toil of our labor overwhelms us. It is difficult to regularly humble ourselves in repentance before God and others. It is not easy dealing with the many family conflicts that come from being Christians. It is difficult to trust God as our bodies are racked with pain. It is difficult to believe what we do not yet see.
When pilgrims are weary, The Lord refreshes them with food and drink. Here it is - The Word and the sacrament are food for weary pilgrims in the church militant. The church triumphant will not need the sacrament, for in reality we will sup with our Lord. But for now we feed by faith, looking to Christ for all we need for everlasting life and daily strength. Let us pray.